1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a warning system for vehicles and, in particular, to a supplemental warning light system for buses.
2. Background & Description of the Related Art
School buses are used extensively throughout the United States for transporting school children to and from school and school-related activities. Although the safety records of school buses have improved, accidents still occur when the school children exit or enter the bus. A substantial problem is that children exiting a school bus and wanting to cross the roadway face the hazard of being struck by other vehicles traveling on the roads. Regulations in most areas of the United States, Canada, and other countries require school buses to activate flashing yellow lights when preparing to stop or make turns and flashing red lights and a swing-out stop sign when the bus has stopped. When these warning systems are activated, motorists traveling in all directions on the road are required to stop and remain stopped until the flashing red lights and stop sign are deactivated. The warning system is commonly a sign assembly near the front driver's side of the bus. The sign assembly is operable to shift the warning sign, or “stop” sign, between a non-extended or retracted position adjacent to the side of the bus and an extended position extending the sign outwardly from the side of the bus.
It has been found that due to the heights of many vehicles, conventional warning signs that extend from the sides of school buses are not always visible to drivers of adjacent vehicles. Rather, due to the heights and locations of the conventional warning signs, view of the signs are often obscured by neighboring vehicles such as vans, sports utility vehicles and the like.
The prior art teaches various warning signals attached to vehicles and, in particular, to buses. For example, U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2009/0273941 by Englander et al. teaches a lighting or light emitting diode (LED) strip mounted on the sides of a school bus. The light strips may be removably mounted in sliding channels mounted to the bus. Englander et al. also teach the light strip may be switched on automatically via a switch which interfaces with a power source, with the opening of the door, such as by the turning on of the light in the stairwell of the door of the bus by operation of the door control. Alternatively, the school bus driver may separately turn on or off the lighting strip. As another alternative, the control may respond to the vehicle's transmission state, e.g., park, drive, etc. However, the lighting strip disclosed by Englander et al. is located even lower than the conventional warning signs. While the lighting strip may assist loading and unloading passengers, cars stopped alongside the bus will likely obscure the lights from other traffic.
Various publications disclose lights installed on various parts of a vehicle as part of a warning system. U.S. Pat. No. 7,172,322 to Pommeret et al. teaches framing for a window of a motor vehicle passenger compartment to form a light unit whose housing is constituted by the framing for the periphery of a window. The structure of the framing constitutes uprights and a longitudinal support plate to support light emitting diodes (LEDs). Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,400,225 to Currie and U.S. Pat. No. 4,758,931 to Gabaldon each disclose an illumination device or lighting assembly mounted around the periphery or border of the rear window of a motor vehicle. However, neither discloses the placement of an LED strip or flexible electroluminescent light source strand mounted around the periphery of the side windows of a vehicle to elevate the warning system above neighboring traffic.
Further, various warning systems have been adapted to supplement the conventional school bus warning systems. For example, these supplemental systems are designed to warn the children of on-coming traffic with a variously colored light system such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,578,983 to Inwood et al. These systems are not designed to notify surrounding traffic of children loading on or unloading from the school bus.
With the purpose of improving over the shortcomings of the prior art, a supplemental warning system is needed that, when activated, is readily visible to all surrounding vehicles.